Since the crash of communism in Central and Southeastern Europe in 1989, almost everything in the region has changed – from politics to economics to popular culture to religion. There have been new challenges to confront and new dilemmas. This volume examines the political engagement of religious associations in the post-socialist countries of Central and Southeastern Europe, with a focus on disputes about property restitution, revelations about the collaboration of clergy with the communist-era secret police, intolerance, and controversies about the inclusion of religious instruction in the schools. Each of the countries in the region is analyzed with research grounded in on-site interviews, as well as extensive use of literature in local and Western languages.
List of Tables
Preface and Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
1. Religious organizations in post-communist Central and Southeastern Europe – An Introduction by Sabrina P. Ramet
2. The Catholic Church in Post-Communist Poland: Polarization, privatization, and decline in influence by Sabrina P. Ramet
3. The Catholic Church in the post-1989 Czech Republic and Slovakia by Milan Reban
4. The Kádár Regime and the Roman Catholic Hierarchy by Krisztián Ungváry
5. The Catholic Church and politics in Slovenia by Egon Pelikan
6. Church and state in Croatia: Legal framework, religious instruction, and social expectations by Siniša Zrinščak, Dinka Marinović Jerolimov, Ankica Marinović, & Branko Ančić
7. The Cross, the Crescent and the Bosnian War: The Legacy of Religious Involvement by Janine Natalya Clark
8. Religion and Democracy in Serbia since 1989: The Case of the Serbian Orthodox Church by Radmila Radić & Milan Vukomanović
9. Islam and Politics in the Serbian Sandžak: Institutionalisation and feuds by Aleksander Zdravkovski
10. The Orthodox Churches of Macedonia and Montenegro by Aleksander Zdravkovski & Kenneth Morrison
11. The Orthodox Churches and Democratization in Romania and Bulgaria by Lavinia Stan & Lucian Turcescu
12. Religion and Politics among Albanians of Southeastern Europe by Isa Blumi
Afterword by Robert F. Goeckel
Sabrina P. Ramet was born in London, England, and moved to the USA at age 10. She earned her undergraduate degree in Philosophy at Stanford University, her MA in International Relations at the University of Arkansas in 1974, and her Ph.D. in Political Science at UCLA in 1981. She has lived much of her life in Europe, above all in England, Austria, Germany, Croatia, Serbia, and, since 2001, Norway. She is the author of 12 books and editor of 31 scholarly books (29 published as of May 2014, and two in production). She has been a frequent visitor to Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia and, in recent years, also Poland. Her main areas of research are East European history and politics, religion and politics, and the history of political thought.
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